


welcoming committee

by imposterhuman



Series: ironstrange vs. the rogues [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angry Rhodey, Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Gen, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Not Steve Friendly, POV James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Salt, Team Iron Man, all the salt, not team Cap friendly, so he calls himself jim, the rogues return
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 20:30:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17711042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: when the rogues are pardoned, james rhodes has some things to say to themteam iron man: i have had it with trolls so i will fight you without hesitation if you troll me. this is a TEAM IRON MAN fic. youve be warned





	welcoming committee

**Author's Note:**

> lots and lots of salt because today was a salty day for me
> 
> the ironstrange is rly implied, blink and you miss it, but i put it in so i could group this with my other anti team cap fics oops
> 
> enjoy!

Jim was a mellow guy, most of the time. Really, he was. He had to be, to be able to handle Tony’s antics since MIT and not strangle the man.

 

He was good at keeping his cool and staying calm, a skill he perfected in the military. There was no room for screaming matches in a warzone, no matter how pissed off he felt about an order. The only time he ever yelled at a CO was when he was searching for Tony during those awful three months. The CO had tried to call off the search, to proclaim Tony dead, and Jim had lost it. He shouted for a solid hour and ended up getting the search funded for another month.

 

It took a lot to rile him up to true anger. Even Tony after shutting down weapons with no warning, or hiding his palladium poisoning, or  _ inviting a terrorist to his house, _ hadn’t gotten the full extent of it. The Rogues, though…

 

Jim had never been angrier. The Rogues took advantage of Tony, of  _ his brother _ , in every way. They took his money and his time without thanks and then had the gall to demand more while tearing him down. Jim had kept his mouth shut when they were a team, because Tony had loved them. Just like with Sunset Bain, with Ty Stone, Tony loved people who were bad for him but loved them with all his heart. He knew that saying something would only result in Tony shutting him out, but he needed to be there for his friend, so he kept his mouth shut. He and Pepper, though, frequently fantasized about kicking the Avengers’ and SHIELD’s asses to kingdom come for demanding so much of Tony for so little. 

 

When the pardons came through, it was only Tony’s shaky breaths and barely-there tears that kept Jim from getting in his suit and beating the Rogues up. He stayed for Tony, but his heart burned with the injustice of everything. As he stroked Tony’s hair and tried to comfort him, he also planned how to make life a living hell for Rogers and his merry maniacs.

 

No one could hurt his brother and get away with it. Not back at MIT, not when Tony was a young CEO in a world of sharks, and not now. 

 

Jim lobbied hard to be a part of the “welcoming committee” for the Rogues at the airport. Originally, the Council wanted to send Tony, put forth a united front and all that, but Tony had sharply vetoed that.

 

“My agreement with the Accords Council specifically states that I don’t have to be around the so-called Rogue Avengers unless I choose or on the field,” he had said, staring the Council into submission.

 

They had relented, so Jim volunteered. They didn’t know him well enough to know the glint of real anger in his eyes, not like Tony did. Tony said nothing, though, so Jim was approved to meet with the Rogues when they landed.

 

Jim took the War Machine suit to the airport. It had always been a labor of Tony’s love, each piece fabricated with Jim in mind. He didn’t kid himself anymore; there was no way he could’ve stolen the suit without Tony’s express permission. Putting it in context with the palladium poisoning, Jim understood the party and subsequent fight was a way to make him  _ take  _ it without arousing suspicion. After his fall, Tony had made hundreds up upgrades so something like that would never happen again. He had a parachute, too, just in case. As a result, the suit looked more imposing than ever, almost as intimidating as the blood red of the Bleeding Edge Iron Man armor.

 

He landed with a loud  _ thunk!,  _ fashionably late to the party (a trick he learned from Tony and a total power move). He flipped up his faceplate, noting Rogers’s irritated expression and Barton’s unsubtle eye roll. 

 

“Hello,” he greeted coldly, offering no apologies. “I’m supposed to welcome you back to the US.”

 

There was a pause. “Well?” Barton said, impatient. “Aren’t you going to?”

 

“That was all the welcome you deserve,” Jim replied, face set. “I’m not going to pretend to be happy to see you, now will anyone else.”

 

“Why bother coming, then?” Romanoff sneered. 

 

“So I could warn you in person,” Jim met Rogers’s eyes. “From now on, Tony isn’t your punching bag. If you try to pull any of your toxic bullshit with him, you’ll not only have me to answer to, but a whole team of people who actually care about him, including the Sorcerer Supreme, Captain Marvel, several Enhanced people, and, of course, Pepper and I. All of us can and will kick your ass without hesitation. Stay away from him.”

 

“Figures,” Maximoff hissed. “He went and bought himself people to pretend to care about him because nobody ever could.”

 

“Watch it, witch,” Jim said, letting his anger bleed into his voice. “Your pardon was the most contested. People still hate you. You really want to give me a reason to throw you to the wolves?”

 

“Jim-” Rogers started. 

 

“Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes,” Jim corrected with no small amount of venom in his voice. “I earned  _ my  _ rank, so respect me and use it.”

 

“-How are we supposed to work things out with Tony if we can’t go near him?”

 

Jim snorted. “You won’t be,” he said. “I saw your letter, your attempts to  _ work things out  _ are pathetic and hurtful. If Tony wants to reach out to you, he will. If he doesn’t, you’re going to respect that.” The  _ or else  _ was heavily implied. 

 

“We all made mistakes,” Rogers tried to placate. “I think we all deserve the chance to talk it out like adults, right?”

 

Jim wasn’t having it. “You lost that chance when you tried to kill Tony.”

 

“I… I didn’t… what?”

 

“Oh?” Jim cocked his head, a mockery of curiosity. “You didn’t know that slamming a vibranium shield full-force into an already weak chest wouldn’t severely hurt someone? You didn’t know that the force it took to crack the arc reactor and the suit easily broke Tony’s fake sternum and several ribs?”

 

“He was fine when we left!” Rogers said defensively. 

 

Behind him, Wilson paled. “You left him there?” he whispered, horrified. “We don’t leave a man behind, Steve, that’s the rule.”

 

Jim ignored him. “He has a pain tolerance on par with yours,” he said harshly. “As his teammates, you should’ve known that. Instead, you left him in Siberia, emotionally and physically compromised. So no, you don’t deserve any damn chances.”

 

The Rogues were looking at Rogers like they hadn’t seen him before. Evidently, he hadn't told his “team” about Siberia. 

 

“What the fuck did you do, Rogers?” Wilson asked, steel in his voice that Jim hadn’t ever heard before.

 

“Keeping secrets again?” Jim tutted. “Isn’t that what tore apart the Avengers? Have you learned nothing from your exile? Truth, honor, and justice, indeed.” Jim shook his head, disgusted. He geared up to fly off. He had done his welcoming.

 

“Wait,” Romanoff saw him take off, and quickly noted the lack of other vehicles. “How are we supposed to get to the Compound.”

 

“Not my problem,” Jim said, flying away. “I’m just the welcoming committee, so, welcome. Please, give me a reason to send you back.”

**Author's Note:**

> thoughts?
> 
> prompts/comments/kudos make me smile


End file.
